


Shock Factor

by Hoodedscarlet



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Electrocution, Established Relationship, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-03 20:00:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2885723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoodedscarlet/pseuds/Hoodedscarlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Rage Happy Secret Santa Fic for ddemonicpanda on tumblr. Hope you enjoy it! <3 )</p><p>X-Ray and Vav are the city’s greatest hope against evil - with their superpowers combined they can take down almost anybody in their way and with four amazing boyfriends waiting for them at the end of the night life couldn’t get any better. But when Mark Nutt manages to kidnap Gavin on a night superheroing gone wrong, Ray finds out that maybe he and Gavin weren’t the only ones keeping secrets - and he’s going to need all the help he can get if he wants to save the day and get the guy (back).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
Whoever decided that superheroes wore spandex had obviously never worn a full suit before – and certainly not enjoyed the _lovely_ feeling of said spandex flossing their butt cheeks.

Of course, this was one of Gavin’s smaller suits and not one he usually wore, one he’d refused to throw out despite Ray pointing out several times that it looked like he was going to rip it into pieces by just breathing. But despite Ray insisting Gavin had kept the thing stashed somewhere out of sight, and with all his usual suits out of commission due to rips and tears and just plain dirtiness he had pulled it from the depths with a special kind of triumph. Great – except now with the danger of their superhero night behind them the Brit was walking along like he had a stick shoved up his ass. Hell, the more Ray watched him, the more he was trying to stop himself from laughing because god this was a man who could pick a fight with ten men and win and yet he could be so  _stupid_ sometimes.

“Still think that was a good idea?” He asked, grinning.

“Piss off you bloody prick.” Gavin replied, rolling his eyes as he pulled at the blue spandex, making a face. “At least I did wear it again! That was the whole point.”

“You are not wearing that suit Vav.” Ray said, the alter ego name slipping off his tongue smooth as butter. “It’s been spray painted onto your body and it’s going to rip the moment you take it off. Fuck man, I can see your singular ball – you might as well be naked!”

“Bet you wish I was though, don’t you luv?” He replied, the Brit waggling his eyebrows in a way that made Ray spit take. Or rather, he tried to - when Ray tried the sound was punctured by a strangled sound and he cursed as he clutched his stomach. He could feel the bruises thudding dully beneath the skin of his abdomen, the pain fading to a dull ache as Gavin’s hand quickly wrapped tightly, possessively around his own. He met Gavin’s eyes, giving him a reassuring smile in an attempt to quench some of his worry. He wasn’t sure how successful he was being though – he could feel the bruises on his face starting to show and although Gavin sported some of his own Ray could see the way that his partner’s forehead knotted in concern.

It was hard, sometimes. Being a superhero was never something that Ray had planned on, let alone in a heroic duo with one of his best friends and partners. Sure, X-Ray vision and lasers were cool but all of this was just trivialities in his life – important, sure. They were as much a part of him as his love for gaming and referencing outdated memes. But never “keep a whole city safe” important. It was a big weight to carry on his shoulders, and there was something so… Nice about the fact that Gavin was willing to give up his personal safety to help him look after the citizens he had accidentally fallen in love with. But sometimes Ray would look at him, when his face had yet to show the extent of the bruising and his fingers played nervously across the skin that would surely be discoloured a sickly yellow later and he was nothing but concerned for him. He wanted nothing more than to wrap him up and keep him safe – and that extended to all five of his boyfriends. He fought more for them than anybody else - and he was going to keep his boys safe, if it was the last thing he ever did.

“You okay there X-ray?” Gavin asked, raising an eyebrow, and suddenly the concern was wiped from his face like it’d never even there to begin with. “You look way too worried for tonight. Relax!” he said, throwing his arms behind his head in a show of casualness. “Flynt Coal’s been locked up, we’re off duty! You heard Heyman, he and the boys will keep an eye on things for the rest of the night and anybody thinking of crawling out of the gutters now has a death wish.” Ray hummed in agreement.

“You feeling good?”

“Feeling great, luv.” Gavin said, winking at him. “Don’t feel all dodgy ‘bout it. I’m fine.”

“Time to go home and make out with our hot boyfriends?”

“Hell yes.”

-x-

By the time they arrived home the full moon was low in the sky, the bright silvery light illuminating the roads of the suburbs much better than the honeyed street lights. Surprisingly enough despite the late hours there were still lights in the windows of their – while Ray kind of wanted to be concerned there was something nice about the fact that the lights had been left on for them and possibly that somebody had waited up for the two of them. The porch lamp spilled yellow light over them and the door was even unlocked, and Gavin wasted no time in shucking off his boots as Ray closed the door behind them. Ray honestly didn’t really blame the guy – that suit did not look comfortable. He did however take significant pleasure in watching the dipshit hopping down the hallway towards the downstairs bathroom.

  
“You guys’re back late.”

  
Ray turned to see Geoff walking out of the living room, eyes even heavier than usual from the sleep he’d been obviously starving off. He’d already changed into an old sleep shirt – frankly Ray was wondering if he’d actually been asleep before they’d walked in the door. He didn’t doubt it, if the way that Geoff tried to muffle a yawn with his hand was anything to go by.

“Why are you still up?”

“Waiting for you.” He replied simply, flashing him a sleepy smile. “Heard Flynt was running around and I didn’t really want to go to bed knowing you and Gav were out dealing with that. If there was serious trouble with X-Ray and Vav, I want to know, yeah?” Ray’s heart softened at that – he didn’t like keeping anybody else up but the thought touched him, reminded him of just how much the man cared for him and it made a novel sort of happiness shoot through him that he hadn’t quite gotten over just yet.

Frankly, Ray felt like he couldn’t really be blamed for that – this whole relationship was still so beautifully novel to him period and that was  _probably_ because this whole thing hadn’t even been happening for a month. Oh, they’d been dancing around each other for way longer than that but it’d only been a few blissful weeks since they’d actually finally sat down and hashed out this relationship of theirs. Well,  _almost_ blissful – because upon moving into Geoff’s house (per his request and since they’d practically lived there for a month before then anyway) suddenly he and Gavin had no excuses to explain the way they’d disappear in the middle of the night, no ‘bar fights’ to explain the bruises that would appear and they knew they had to come clean about their alter ego life.  The confession had actually been…  _Surprisingly_ well taken. Beyond Geoff making a quip about what kind of ridiculous superhero names they had and Michael (well, everybody but  _especially_ Michael) demanding to see their powers in person the four had taken it in stride - something both of them couldn’t stop being thankful for.

“The others?” Ray asked.

“Michael’s out on one of his weird ass walk.” Geoff said. “I swear, try and get him off his ass any other time and he’s as agreeable as a sack of shit, but at midnight? Sure, he’ll go for a walk. Alone. Without telling anybody. I swear he has a death wish.” He shook his head. “Jack went to sleep already – he tried staying up with me but work getting him up as early as it does he signed off an hour ago. As for Ryan, I think he’s just screwing around in the office with some computer stuff, although last time I head he had another headache. That Brit stumbling past isn’t going to help him, especially if he falls on his face.”

“Its Gavin. Of course he fell on his face.” Ray agreed, laughing alongside Geoff. The laughter was light, easy – Ray leaned up and kissed Geoff and he would have deepened it if the older man didn’t pull him away.

“You seriously got fucked up today.” Geoff commented, raising an eye as his thumb trailed over his cheek, across the darkening bruise there. Ray just pouted, sticking out his bottom lip.

“It’s just bruises Geoff.” He said, huffing. “I’m fine, I’m not even bleeding today.”

“Today.” Geoff repeated, sighing as he let go of the younger man’s face. “You know I worry about you.”

“Of course, I do too.” Ray said, smiling. “But it could be worse, and to more people. That’s why I do this.”

“You do it because you’re such a goody two shoes, you fucking dork.” Geoff said, smiling. The action was genuine, but dulled by sleep. His moustache was already long unfurled – Ray had the stupid instinct to curl it in his fingers to get it back to some semblance of ‘normality’ because god, he loved his boyfriend’s villain’s moustache.

“You want me to patch you up a bit?” Geoff asked.

“Not really much you can do honestly.” Ray said, shrugging. “It’s all bruising so you can’t exactly do all that much except strap some frozen peas to my chest and kiss me better.”

“Kiss you better, you say?” Geoff said, his mood snapping from attentive boyfriend to something a bit more seductive and Ray couldn’t help but laugh.

“Come off it, you dirty old man.”

“What are you going on about?” Geoff said, battering his eyelashes. “I’m  _so_ innocent, what sort of heroes victimise poor innocent people like-”

“Shut the fuck up.” Ray said, punching him in the side. “Let’s just go upstairs and you can help me wash off before we go to bed – I’m home now, you don’t have an excuse to stay up anymore. And no,” he said, mouth curling in a crooked smile “you’re not staying up for Michael again. I don’t know who was more pissed off last time you did that, you or him.”

“In my defence, that was the first time Michael and you had been staying with me when he’s been actually  _living_ with me.” Geoff said. “It wasn’t exactly like I knew that Michael suddenly decided to exercise once a month either. And in the middle of the night – god, I wish he could show me some of those tricks, maybe I’d lose some of this beer gut.”

“Ask him over breakfast tomorrow, if he’s not being grizzly.” Ray said, pushing him towards the stairs. “I’m tired and I want to sleep and you look like you’re about to fall over.”

“Fine fine, sleeping beauty.” Geoff said, rolling his eyes and laughing. “Lets go.” He trudged up the stairs, and Ray was about to follow him when he leaned over the railing, yelling down the hall.

“Oi, Gavin! I know you’re a horny bastard but come to bed already, you can kiss Ryan later!”

Ray would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the shocked squawk and yell of “how did you even know?!” that he got in return.

  
-x-

It was just another average night fighting crime – except it wasn’t.

The call they had gotten was simple, if a little vague; a shooting at some of the local metalwork warehouses at the outskirts of town, some evil doer or another up to no good but no real details beyond that. And really, the details just didn’t add up – the place was closed on a Sunday, yet there were supposedly workers about to be shot at, it was just a  _little_ too early for criminals to be striking out from the shadow with the cops on graveyard shift still rearing to go. But the thoughts were nowhere to be seen as the duo parked outside, giving each other a once over as they shut the doors.

“Any plans on how to do this X-Ray?”

“Hard to when we don’t know what’s going on.” He replied, adjusting his swirled glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Might have to make it up on the fly – you up for that?”

“Of course you knob.” Gavin replied, grinning. “That’s the whole bloody reason we’re still kicking, we’re pro at that.”

“Touché.” Ray replied, chuckling as they walked towards the entrance. He started to frown though as they walked closer to the main building, adjusting his glasses in the same way one would a computer screen with glare. “I can’t see anybody inside, the metal plates are blocking my view. If there  _is_ anybody inside, they’re behind them – but that doesn’t seem like it’ll happen.”

“You sure we got the right place?” Gavin asked, hand resting on the door. “I mean they could have meant-“

“Not this has to be the right place, there aren’t any other warehouses like this.” He said, shaking his head. “Why don’t we just go in and have a look around? I mean, worst comes to worst there’s nothing here and we go home and chill with some popcorn and a shitty movie. Plus, the chains are cut. That’s a good sign.” He gestured to the door, a hefty looking chain threaded through the handles but with clean cuts made through the centre chains, leaving them dangling from each side. They rattled as Gavin grasped the handle tighter.

“Sounds top.” Gavin agreed, pushing the door open (because what was the point in sneaking into a deserted warehouse anyway?) and ushering Ray in first with a cheeky wink.

The first thing they noticed was that the place felt… Wrong somehow. The duo weren’t new to the feel of evil in the air, but this was on another level. It felt less like they were walking into the scene of a crime and more like they were walking into the lion’s den itself – which was worrying considering there was  _nobody here_.

They didn’t hear the clicking of the doors being properly bolted shut, nor the shuffle of men in the rafters above them or the rows of metal around them. What they did hear was the boisterous laugh of a voice they knew all too well and they quickly turned to see a familiar figure perched on top of a set of scaffolding, bow settled prim and proper across his legs. The bucket hat and glasses he wore did nothing to hide the cocky smirk on his face; his shirt was emblazoned with the Union Jack and his bow and arrows colored the same. The man was unmistakable.

“ _Mark Nutt!”_ Gavin yelled. The man winced at the loud yell.

“ _Please_  Vav, calm it with the yelling. God, I thought being from England you’d have a bit more of an understanding of manners but obviously I was mistaken.” He scoffed, pushing up the protective glasses on his nose. Ray rolled his eyes – the worst guys to fight were the ones up themselves and thought they were just the best thing since sliced bread (in Gavin’s eyes he was almost as bad as wet bread) and Mark Nutt was so up himself his head was permanently stuck in his ass.

"Manners don’t matter when it comes to assholes like you." Ray replied "You caused crime, we fight it. Now come down here and we can solve this like gentlemen."

"Gentlemen? Please, look at what you’re wearing and tell me you’re even close to being gentlemen. Spandex? Capes?  _Really?_ ”

"Well at least spandex is more practical than what you’re wearing. Why are you even wearing a hat inside?"

"Well I’d ask why you’re wearing underwear on the outside but I don’t like rehashing jokes." Mark said, an almost bored look on his face. "I’m tired of you already though - lets get to the point of this already." The two were suddenly aware of the footsteps around them.

Suddenly aware this was a trap.

"X-Ray, look out!"

The Puerto Rican had just enough time to roll out of the way as a goon slammed down behind him, the other three that had been doing the same caught with Gavin’s Slo-Mo hands. That wasn’t the end of the question though - Ray could see other ones stalking in the shadows, loading up bows trained exclusively on him and fucking hell Nutt really had them cornered right now.

“We need to get out of here!” Ray yelled out, diving out of the way as arrows to start to soar over his head.

“How the bloody hell are we going to do that?” Gavin said, eyes flickering up to where Mark sat cross legged, observing the battle unfolding with a sort of detached amusement. Hell, the guy hadn’t even flinched as the first barrage of men had attacked and been deflected; a puppeteer completely in control of the strings and his lack of worry had the Brit worried. He slid up back to back against Ray, dropped low into a fighting stance.

“They’ve got all the doors covered.” Ray rattled off quickly, scanning the room. “The windows along the tops of the walls are probably our only way out, but if we go for that now we’re going to get picked off easily.”

“So I get Mark, and you go for the window? If I use the teacup I should have enough time to jump out after you after he gets stunned.”

“You got it.” Ray said, giving Gavin a grin. “Don’t get fancy about it either, okay? I know this guys an asshole, but sticking around’s just going to fuck us both over.” And the smile he got in return from the Brit? Well, he hoped it was one that was of a guy that was going to listen to him. There was a time and a place for taking this guy down – but today, surrounded and very much at a disadvantage, was not one of those days. Then again, Gavin could be a very stupid individual – Ray wasn’t about to forget the time where he suggested that they legitimately should throw  _banana peels_ to slow down robbers. But at the end of the day it didn’t matter the scrapes or bruises. They would get home and despite their decisions, despite whether the guy actually got away or not they would be together. And that, that was all that mattered.

With a yell Ray sprinted to the side, pulling out his grappling hook as he made a beeline for the wall, twirling it in his hand. The goons obviously hadn’t planned for him to come straight at them - yelling they dove to either side as Ray high kicked his way through the one in front of him and before anybody could blink he was scaling the wall like a true parkour master to smash out the window. Looking down he could see Gavin drawing the majority of the fire, his slow motion abilities very much in effect on the men around him as he fished the teacup out of his utility pants with that mad glint in his eye that Ray was pretty sure singlehandedly kept his partner alive. Gavin’s eyes met Nutt’s. He grinned.

  
“Suck on this, you bloody tosser!” He yelled, winding up his arm before throwing the teacup with killer aim. The teacup soared effortlessly through the air, and Ray could already see it starting to shudder, ticking down to detonation as the Brit turned to run towards him, to join him.  
  
It all happened so fast.  
  
Their first mistake was thinking the bow on Marks lap was just for looks. Quicker than Ray’s eyes could follow Nutt was swinging the weapon up into fighting stance and firing an arrow straight and true. The point flew through the middle of the teacup - Ray had never seen porcelain shatter so finely before in his life. He only had a moment to admire (more curse) his nemesis’ aim though before the unstable energy from said cup ricocheted outward with a deafening boom that had Rays nails digging into the window frame, the shock jarring his bones and fuck he was probably the furthest one from the explosion.

"Go!"

Rays head whipped around, trying to spy his partner through the wreckage and considering how much dust he was covered in now Ray felt like he could be excused for not seeing Gavin on first glance. But then his heart dropped - because he could see blood, thick and red and bleeding through Gavin’s suit to stain it dark maroon. But the eyes that met his were not filled with worry or pain - they were dark and they were determined even as Ray could see Mark jumping down daintily from the scaffolding, advancing on his partner.

"Go Ray! I’ll deal with this, you go get help!"

"But Gavin-"

"I’ve gotten out of worse than this on my own- bloody hell!" Ray let out an audible gasp as arrows landed around him and suddenly there was a net pushing Gavin to the floor and Ray was so, so close to jumping down after him- "Don’t you dare come down here, you minge! This is a bloody trap, don’t just walk into it!" And there was something else tinging Gavin’s voice, a fierce possessiveness that if not for the goons quickly advancing on him would have had him rooted in place. "I’ll meet you at our usual place even if I have to drag myself there - now go!"

"You better!" Ray yelled back, ducking through the window as the first of the new bombardment of arrows flew after him, narrowly missing the back of his head as he tumbled to a stop in the warehouse parking lot. He could hear the doors bursting open behind him as he began to run, arrows whistling past him just a bit too far away to be aiming for him, what were they aiming for?

When the first one exploded near his feet Ray near went flying, the realisation of just what was napping hitting him as heavy as the heat wave from the explosion and suddenly there was a new spring to his step even as he worried for Gavin trapped in the building back there. He knew Gavin could handle himself - but Nutt was a madman and not in the way he liked to tease about with Ryan. That man had no morals, no real motive besides keeping up the flashy lifestyle his accent and attire implied he had. The fact that Gavin was alone with that monster sent a cold shot of dread down his spine.

But Gavin was right. At the end of the day this had all been a trap for them, and better that he spread out and make that more difficult for Nutt than playing into his hands. Plus, they were superheroes! They could deal with this.

Right?

Ever thankful he had left his keys in the ignition, no sooner had he jumped into the driver’s seat had the wheels started turning and he started squealing out of the parking lot. And the goons were terrible shots, and arrows were fast but they weren’t as fast as him and quickly the warehouse winked out of sight as he turned a corner and drove into the night, a silent prayer on his lips to whatever deity was listening.

Gavin had to be okay.

He had to be.

-x-

  
“Oh Vav, I thought you’d be smarter than this.”  
  
Between coughs and splutters the young man looked up, watched as the man with the killers smile advanced on him leisurely even as he struggled viciously against his bonds. The net was made of a thick and very strong wire; he could feel it biting into his hands and bare skin and he kicked it, tried to shake off the ends even though they were firmly magnetized to the ground.

"Bugger off, you sod." He spat, eyes livid as he glared up at Nutt through his bonds.

“Come on Vav, we’re all friends here-“

“I don’t think you understand me.” Gavin said, baring his teeth despite himself. “ _Fuck. Off._ ” Nutt’s smile disappeared.

"I really suggest you don’t talk to me like that." Nutt replied, whipping a small controller out of his pocket. "I’m only trying to have a little conversation and you’re being so rude… Actually, frankly I think that’s  _unacceptable._ " His final word was punctured with a quiet click, and suddenly Gavin was screaming as electricity seared through his system, made him twist and convulse in the confines of the net. "Scream as loud as you like Vav - you darling little X-Ray can’t hear you now. How does it feel, knowing your partner deserted you?"

"I told him to-  _bloody hell -_ he’ll be back-” and he would have kept taking if the voltage hadn’t clicked up another notch and another scream had been involuntarily ripped from his throat.

"Tut tut Gavin, did anybody teach you any manners?" Nutt said, "Only speak when addressed, my dear Vav." And as soon as the searing pain had come it was gone, leaving Gavin collapsed and panting, limbs heavy and eyes watering as Nutt laughed and laughed. And God, all he wanted to do was reach up and sock the bastard in the jaw, or choke the life out of him or  _something_. But he couldn’t even control his fingers anymore as they twitched under aftershock and he was just so  _tired_.

"We have a lot to discuss, Vav."

Unconscious was a welcome embrace after that.

-x-

The pizza was cold and Gavin still wasn’t here.

Ray wasn’t usually one to fuss and natter (the only reason Gavin thought he did was because the Brit literally gave zero fucks about anything and  _one_ of them had to be the responsible one) but there was no sight of the mingy little Brit in sight and he was pretty sure his lip was bruised from how much he was worrying at it. Behind him he could hear the clatter of the diner kitchen, light, as one would expect at the early hours of the morning with only stoners and reject superheroes to serve. The edge of his pizza box was worn at the edges from nervous fingers, a single piece removed and placed back with the end barely nibbled.

Gavin was fine. He had to be fine. He had to be hehadtobe-

"Ray?"

The Puerto Rican’s head snapped up at the name, flicking over to the source of his name and half expecting and wholly hoping a big nosed Brit to meet him in return. But it wasn’t so - instead it was a familiar red haired waitress with an achingly concerned face on her.

"Linds?" Ray said, try to swallow back the worry that threatened to spill out of his mouth. "What’s up?"

"You’re waiting for Gavin, aren’t you?" And God, he was pretty sure that she didn’t even know the beginning of the story, thought the two of them were just love drunk fools who got into more bar fights than was called for but he could read the whole story on her face.

"You need to go home and get some clean clothes on." She said quietly, resting a hand on his shoulder. She smelt like floral perfume and hope; Ray wanted to lean into the touch despite the fact they’d never talked outside the diner. (Maybe, after this was all over he’d asked to meet her outside here – it’d be fun.)

"But Gavin…" Ray said, expecting Lindsay to interrupt him, to fiercely defend the idea that Gavin was really only a few minutes away. But she didn’t, and Ray was left with the uncomfortable sound of his own words as they trailed off into nothing and that alone said all that Ray needed to hear.

"Go." Lindsay said quietly. "Pizzas on me, okay?" And a stubborn part of Ray wanted to wrench it from Lindsay’s grasp, claim that really, Gavin was only a few minutes away! But his scrapes and cuts and burns ached under his heavy clothes in the same way his limbs felt so heavy and he knew he had to accept what had become the inevitable at this point.  
  
Gavin wasn’t coming home.  
  
He couldn’t go back either - not now. He was too tired, too weak and how was he to know that there wasn’t a trap left for him too? And at least there was somebody still out there that could still do something. But the words felt so hollow as he slinked out the doors, away from the glaring fluorescents and into the car, the horizon bleeding a cold blue into the fading violets of the night because fuck this didn’t feel right. At the end of the day it didn’t matter whether they saved the day or the bad guy got away, they’d be able to barrel into whatever sewer or car or alleyway would hold them and just  _be_ \- bandage up the physical wounds and talk and talk to mend the mental ones. Was it any surprise that was how they got together as well, too fast words whispered after a near brush with death? The ‘thought I’d lost you’s bleeding into ‘I don’t know how to go on without you by my side’ and desperate words turning to desperate lips and teeth and bodies pressed up against the brick because finally,  _finally_ somebody understood what the other went through, understood that being a hero was more than the suit they wore and the antics they undertook; there was a reason that X-Ray and Vav were known as a duo.  
  
But Gavin wasn’t coming back home, and Ray couldn’t fight the whispering voice in his head that it was his fault. That he should have seen the signs; the call was too vague, the scene too quiet, the metal plates in the warehouse positioned just so it hid everybody from his X-Ray vision and why didn’t he just call it off like Gavin had said? He folded over the steering wheel, mind numb as he stared dumbly out into the distance. It didn’t matter what happened when they did this because at the end of the day they always had each other - and tonight Ray only had the cold seat beside him and his bloody spandex stuffed into a bag.  
  
The porch light was still on - that was Ray’s only warning as he quietly opened the door, as it hit him that suddenly he wasn’t the only one that would be distraught over Gavin’s disappearance and he couldn’t deal with that now, he needed to get under the shower, he needed to sleep-  
  
“What took you so long?”  
  
And fuck the bastard, Geoff was padding into the hallway after him and his moustache was drooped and the bags under his eyes dark but the care in his eyes was still there and it finally made something in Ray snap as he just walked face first into Geoff’s chest. He didn’t allow himself to look up and see his boyfriend’s eyes, just inhaled the smell of whiskey and smoke and musk and tried to calm down the worry inside him. And he  _knew_ he shouldn’t worry Geoff with his words; he should try to sort this out on his own, find Vav on his own and not worry Geoff sick but the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could help himself.   
  
“Gavin’s been kidnapped.”

Ray could feel the way that Geoff’s hands tightened on his back, the sharp intake of breathe and he braced himself with clenched fists for what felt like the inevitable throwing of blame, of the anger and shame and regret. The angry words of ‘ _this is all your fault’._ Because it was. He knew it was.

But it didn’t come.

All that came were soft hands to card through his hair and a hushing sound and it took Ray far too long to realize he was shaking where he stood, Geoff making soft comforting sounds as he took shallow rasping breaths.  
  
“You need sleep.” It wasn’t a question. “How badly are you hurt?”  
  
“Cuts, bruises, a few burns.” Ray rattled back, too tired to notice the scratch to his voice. “I’ll live.”

  
“Prefer I have a look at them first though.” Geoff said, pausing a moment. “Do you want me to get Jack?” Ray shrugged - while his loveable bear of a boyfriend had the softest touch of all of them by far and was honestly the best when it came to tending to wounds he was honestly just too tired to think seriously about the decision. Plus, Geoff was warm and he didn’t want to leave the embrace.   
  
“Why aren’t you mad at me?”   
  
“Why should I be? I know you did everything you could.” Geoff said, kissing Ray lightly on the forehead as he pulled away to led them upstairs and if Ray had been any less tired he wouldn’t have let the man pull out of his grasp. “Mad at the bastard that took him? Of course.” And there was something boiling behind his words, a fire on his tongue that burned and burned and with one look Ray knew that Geoff would rip Nutt end from end if he could. “But not you.” And there were hands cradling his face and tilting it up, chapped lips pressing another kiss firmly against his lips and he felt for just a moment that everything would be alright.  
  
“Never you.”  
  
-x-  
  
“We have to tell them Geoff.”  
  
Jack said, looking up at Geoff as he paced the floor in front of the dining table, his fingers drumming against his thighs. The brunch dishes were still soaking in the sink, Geoff having abandoned them after Jack started talking.  
  
“But Jack, this is different, you know that.”  
  
“Secrets are going to come out sooner or later, why don’t we just get it out of the way now?”  
  
“Because I don’t like the idea of our house burning down anytime soon?” Geoff said, nose twitching and making his moustache wiggle and if the room hadn’t been as tense as it was Jack would have found the action hilarious.  
  
“Oh come on Geoff you’re better than that, you  _know_  that’s not going to-”  
  
“No, don’t ‘come on’ me.” Geoff said, eyes livid. “You of  _all_ people shouldn’t be ‘come on’ing me. We’ve got enough on our fucking plate with Gavin gone with some fucking mad man, do you think adding another few huge ass spanners to that mix is gonna be a good idea?” Geoff could see Jack starting to grip the table just a little too  hard before he realised, breathing and removing his hands to fold across his chest.  
  
“Look, I’m not going to just sithere while Gavin’s getting hurt, Geoff.” Jack said, and his mouth is a straight line. “I’m sick of this being some dirty little secret between us because you’re too scared-”  
  
“-And when did I ever stopping you from talking?” Geoff said, foot stamping down as he levelled Jack with an uncharacteristically angry glare. “You can traipse off and go play heroes with Ray. I don’t fucking care!“  
  
“When you forgot this was a pact we made between the both of us-”  
  
“Fucking hell, what’s with all the yelling? Ray’s still fucking asleep!” Michael asked, marching into the doorway and sometime Jack could forget how despite being the shortest out of all of them Michael could fill the space around him like a man three times his size.  
  
“Nothing.” Geoff said, suddenly tightly lipped. Michael’s eyes narrowed.  
  
“Oh yeah, like  _nothing_ almost gets Jack raising his voice. Cough it up.”   
  
“Well, it’s nothing concerning you.” Geoff replied sharply, “So you can fuck off.”  
  
“Fucking hell Geoff, I just asked what you were yelling about and now you’re acting like I started the whole fucking thing!” Michael said, his own thinly veiled anger quickly becoming apparent.   
  
“This isn’t about you!”  
  
“Well I’m  _making_ it about me” Michael said, “because you apparently can’t talk about what’s pissing you off!”   
  
“Because it’s  _not about you-_ ”  
  
“I don’t  _fucking care Geoff.”_ Michael growled back and the sound was so animalistic and it had Jack gripping the dining table again, the sturdy wood shaking under his grasp.  
  
“Whoa, what’s going on-”  
  
“Zip it Ryan.” Michael snapped, eyes not leaving Geoff. Even then he could feel the older man tense behind him.  
  
“I said, what’s-”  
  
“ _Ryan.”_  Geoff snapped as well, his eyes not budging off Michael either and if looks could kill Michael would be a dead man walking. Then again, Geoff probably would be just as ‘well’ off himself and shit, this was going to end badly.

"So are you going to fucking talk or not,  _Geoffrey_?”

"Well that depends,  _Michael_ , does that include you turning around and walking the fuck out of here?”

"Wow, you’re so appreciative of a guy that only wants to help you." Michael replied.

"Michael, you should-"

"Ryan, shut the fuck up I’m not going to say it again." Michael said, and his voice was practically feral. "Geoff’s being a defensive fuck head, Jack’s not helping and the last thing I need right now is you of all fucking people getting on my case-"  
  
“Now you just wait a fucking second Michael-”

"Everybody  _shut the fuck up!_ ”

And everybody went silent as Jacks roar boomed through the room. The red head, usually so peaceful and rational was red in the face, teeth barred and frankly it was terrifying because Jack  _never_  rose his voice. But the sight was made even worse by the fact that Jack had slammed his hands down into the table. Well, tried to. Now in front of him laid the wreckage of said table that was now snapped clean in two, two distinctive hand shaped holes ripped through the solid wood and everybody fell quiet because holy Jesus fuck dear sweet Jack had just slapped a table in half and what person had enough strength to even do that to a  _solid oak table._

"Holy shit."

The four of them slowly turned to where Ray stood at the bottom of the stairs, one of Geoff’s shirts hanging off his lanky figure as his jaw dropped so low it looked like it was about to fall off.

"Okay I just woke up and I walk in on this, anybody going to let me know what the fucks going on?"

And the first person to respond was Jack. Jack who tilted back his head and let out a rumbling laugh that was near hysterical.

"I think we all need to sit down and have a chat about that."

-x-

"So let me get this straight Jack - you have super strength?"

The five of them were now sprawled in various states across the living room sofas, the dining room basically out of commission thanks to Jack’s outburst. The bearded man had already apologised multiple times for destroying the table - frankly everybody else was more interested in the fact their dear sweet teddy bear Jack could snap a solid oak table in half.

"Yeah."

"And you’ve had this for?"

"Since I was a kid." Jack replied. "I have a few interesting childhood memories, let me tell you. Life is interesting when you try to swing on the monkey bars and you snap the bars in half." Ray just laughed, shaking his head.

"God damn man, and to think that you’re the one that’s the best at fixing me up."

"What can I say?" Jack said, shrugging. "I don’t want to be known as the thug that lives next door - I want to be able to help people and you can’t do that without a soft touch.."

"Well you’ve done a damn good job at that." Ray said, before pausing. "Wait, then why were these two winding you up?" It was Jack’s turn to look uncomfortable; however Geoff was the one to interrupt the conversation.

"Look, that’s my fault." Geoff said, sighing in an almost rejected manner. And okay, that didn’t make sense and Ray arched an eyebrow in a sign to get the older man to continue. Instead, he turned to Ryan.

"Can you pass me the Jack Daniels?"

"Geoff, now is hardly the time to be drinking-"

"Michael, do you _really_  think I’m drinking for fun right now?” Geoff said, levelling Michael with a stare that the younger man thankfully didn’t retaliate further on. Satisfied, Geoff took the bottle from Ryan, untwisting the top. “I haven’t done this in a while, so bear with me. I might be a bit rusty.” Placing the top on the couch arm he tilted the near empty bottle back, several mouthfuls worth collecting in his cheeks. He swished it around his mouth a few times, as if taste testing it, before leaning forward and blowing. With any other person that would equal liquor all over the floor and carpet scrubbing for a week to get rid of the smell; for Geoff it was to everybody’s  _serious_  surprise when a thick tongue of flame curled out of his mouth and with the way that Geoff’s eyes glinted in the glow as the fire was reflected in his eyes he looked so raw and  _powerful_.  
  
“…Shit.” Michael said, breath taken away.  
  
“Not really sure how that started.” Geoff admitted, cutting off the stream in a wink as he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Started drinking, realized I could hold a shit ton more than anybody else I hung out with and then suddenly one day I pushed my limits and nearly killed half the people in my apartment complex when I coughed and that happened.” His expression then suddenly turned uncharacteristically  _guilty._. “…Actually I should be drinking a lot more than I am. I should have a decent amount of alcohol in my system like you guys need water. But as it is I’m only drinking enough to not die and not have the fire thing be a nuisance. Usually I can shoot it out my hands and stuff as well but not having enough in the system kind of dampens that.”   
  
“ _Geoff.”_ Jack said, giving him a look that made Geoff wince. “I knew it.”  
  
“And meanwhile I was worried you had a drinking problem.” Ryan admitted, shrugging when Geoff’s gaze turned to him. “Insomnia, man. I have a lot of time on my hands and it’s hard not to notice the bottle levels going down so fast.”  
  
“Thanks.” Geoff replied sarcastically, although the relief was evident in his voice.   
  
“Okay, so Jack has super strength and you’re a dragon. Just… Why didn’t you two tell me? Tell us?” Ray said, gesturing to where Michael and Ryan sat. “You’ve known about my freaky eye lasers and Gavin’s slo-mo and all the rest of it - why did you think we’d treat you two any differently?”  
  
“I was to blame.” Geoff admitted. “Jack here was trying to convince me that telling you guys today would be a good idea but I’m  _not_ exactly the best when it comes to my powers. God, that apartment fire I was talking about? Actually  _killed_ people. That’s not a nice weight to have on the shoulders and hell, Jack wouldn’t have even known I could do all this if we hadn’t hooked up.”  
  
“Wait, there’s more to that story?” Michael asked.  
  
“Met through mutual friends, started talking, became best friends, hooked up one night when we finally both just went ‘fuck it’. Next day we had to sit down and talk because Jack had literally shattered the bed frame with his hands in some sort of Twilight moment and I’d managed to singe all the sheets and some of the wallpaper too.” Geoff laughed; the sound rung more genuine than it had in weeks. “Good times.” The sound trailed off though, replaced by a unusual vulnerability when he started to speak again. “It’s just really hard to speak about though, you know? I mean, superpowers aren’t exactly  _normal,_ let alone ones that force me into what looks like an addiction and can hurt people I love.” And the word rolled off his tongue with a quiet ‘ _like you guys’_ added on the end. “I didn’t want you to think that I was a coward because I didn’t do the amazing work you and Gavin do with your powers… But now, for Gavin, I’ll do anything. Whatever it takes.”  
  
“Me too.” Jack said, and there was nothing but sheer determination in their eyes and it made Ray’s heart leap, made him glad he’d let these two into his life. God, he loved them - he wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to say it, but it was true.  
  
“Fuck it.” Michael said, standing up. “Guys, I’ve got something to confess too.”  
  
“You’ve got powers as well?” Ray asked, somewhat in disbelief.  
  
“Fuck yeah I do.” Michael replied, his voice unsure despite the confident nature of the words. “You know how I go on those long ass walks?” He pushed himself out of his chair, and for once the weight on his shoulders seemed to be a visible thing, shoulders tense as he moved into the space, muttering something about ‘is there enough space around here?’.   
  
“You going to explain what you’re doing-”  
  
“This is the easiest way Ray.” Ryan interrupted, flashing him a smile to settle any bad blood. “A lot of questions get answered just seeing it.” Meanwhile Michael shucked aside his shirt and pants, fingers pausing at his boxers before leaving them on.   
Then a sharp crack sounded through the room as Michael’s bones began to break.  
  
Michael fell to his hands and knees, head bowed as thick fur started to grow and spread across the plane of his back, as his mess of curls became coarser. New muscle began to wrap itself in thick cords around Michael’s limbs and he just  _grew,_ filling in the space around him and no wonder he had the aura of a man three times his size him if this was what he could do. His face contorted and stretched, growing out a short muzzle at the same time his ears were pulled to the top of his head to become small and furred. But when he opened his eyes it was the same familiar brown that they always were.  
  
“You with us Michael?” Ryan asked.  
  
“You know it.” Michael replied, voice lisping as he snuffled a few times. “Wow, I forgot how fucking weird it is to speak with this long ass tongue. Usually I don’t have to worry about this shit.”  
  
“You’re a bear.”  
  
“No shit Ray.” Michael said, sitting back and rolling his shoulders and Ray didn’t know that a bear could look so pleased but then again, this was Michael and he was one of the most expressive people he knew. “Feels good, though. Man, I don’t get out enough like this.”

  
“I feel like this is the unfinished sequel to Brother Bear.” Ray muttered. “So why didn’t  _you_  say anything?”  
  
“Well, how the fuck was I supposed to bring this up?” Michael said, and just because he was a bear didn’t mean that he couldn’t still level anybody he wanted with a deadpan stare. “Oh hey Ray, you’re really cute and you know those super powers you have? Yeah, well I can turn into a fucking bear so let’s talk about that! It’s not exactly the most casual thing to bring up. Not to mention I can’t always control it.”  
  
“It’s why he goes out on the full moon.” Ryan said, “It’s the day he has to transform no questions asked, and since he hasn’t been able to do it as much it  _kind_  of  gets away from him.”  
  
“It’s like caging up a wild animal.” Michael continued. “I mean, you’d be fucking angry too if you were cooped up for a month at a time.”  
  
“Is it uncomfortable then? Just being human all the time?” Ray asked.   
  
“A bit, yeah.” Michael said, scratching his neck with his long, black claws. “I mean, like I don’t want to run off into the woods and never come back but all this fur and muscle and shit basically gets packed down into human me and it’s really not fucking great after a few weeks.”  
  
“God  _damn_ it Michael.” Jack said, shaking his head. “And I thought Geoff was bad! You guys have got to stop hurting yourselves over your powers.” Michael just harrumphed, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. Of course that would be practically a non-event usually, but seeing a bear doing that? Ray couldn’t help himself from bursting into laughter, holding his knees as he leaned over and soon the whole room was laughing with him because  _really?_    
  
“You guys fucking suck.” Michael said, smiling despite himself. Ray shook his head.   
  
“God damn guys, do  _all_ of you have superpowers?”  
  
Suddenly Ryan looked  _very_  uncomfortable and it seemed like the whole room realized all at once that Ryan had been very quiet throughout this whole conversation. Ray was just about to ask, but Michael cut him off with a large bear paw.   
  
“Ryan’s a bit different.” Michael said quietly. “Look, you know how you and Gavin bonded over the fact you guys are complete dumbasses and like saving the world as a side job, and Jack and Geoff got together over the fact they’re dusty assholes?”  
  
“You’re a dusty asshole!” Geoff protested. Michael, thankfully, ignored him.   
  
“Well, me and Ryan got together in a similar way.” Michael continued. “We got close, started dating because we understood what it’s like to have a power that you can’t control. That’s  _dangerous_. And honestly, Ryan’s worse than I am.”  
  
“God, no it’s okay then.” Ray said, “Seriously, don’t worry about it then Ry if it’s that bad-”  
  
“No, its fine Michael.” Ryan said, shaking his head. “I can talk about it. The rest of you guys have, it’s only fair.”  
  
“This isn’t a matter of what’s fair though, Ryan.” Jack said. “It’s a matter of what’s comfortable for you-”  
  
“Just because it’s comfortable, doesn’t mean it’s right.” Ryan replied, shaking his head. “I apologise that I can’t give you a showy demonstration though. It’s… Not always the most pleasant of sensations.” His eyes closed for a moment, his face quieting into one of concentration as he began to focus. For a long moment that was all there was to it. But then the air in the room went cold as Ryan let out a sharp yell of pain, eyes shooting open as a dark haze flooded from his hands to wrap around his fingers.

"Ryan, you okay?!" Geoff yelped, voice cracking as the four of them watched Ryan slowly open his eyes again. They didn’t look normal anymore however - the whites of his eyes were pitch black, a ring of bright violet the only thing to break it up; the same colour was echoed in the faint pulsing light from the energy now winding around Ryan’s fingers.  
  
“Fine, fine.” Ryan assured them, although the words sounded strained. “Just hard to do when I haven’t in a while.”  
  
“So what exactly  _is_ that?” Ray asked.  
  
“Let’s see if I can put this in a way that doesn’t sound like its coming from a trashy romance novel. Probably not, unfortunately. I’ll try my best though.” Ryan replied, letting it thread and wind around his fingers. “Everybody has a balance of good and evil inside of them; obviously in varying shades of grey but it all culminates into good and evil. Ying and Yang, you’re following me? I can draw on that ‘bad’ energy, mine or if I’m feeling daring others, and control it as a separate force. Still have no idea why - depending on the day it’s either life really likes to fuck me over, or a really roundabout way to get me accept the bad in my life and use it to do good.”   
  
“Does it?”  
  
“Hardly.” Ryan said, laughing somewhat bitterly as he let the smoke dissipate from his hand. “You ever wondered why I get so many headaches? It’s not a fun thing to do, so I don’t do it often. Even though I probably should…”  
  
“Has  _everybody_ been hurting themselves over their god damn powers?!” Ray asked, exasperated.  
  
“Well, how were we supposed to know you guys were going to accept this?” Michael asked, gesturing to himself fur and all. “It was nice to be in a relationship with you guys and I didn’t want to fuck it up by making you guys think I was a feral animal.”  
  
“When you’ve kept it a secret for so long, it’s hard to even know how to start talking about it.” Geoff added. Jack after a moment nodded as well, reluctant but agreeing all the same.  
  
“Well, what matters is that we all know now.” Ray said.  
  
“And we all want to help you save Gavin.”  Ryan said, the rest of them agreeing wholeheartedly.  
  
“Guys, you don’t have to-”  
  
“But we want to.” Geoff agreed, nodding at Jack as he stood up. “And I’m not going to sit around and just wait if I can help. There’s no reason we shouldn’t.”  
  
“Dude, I’m not putting you in danger.” Ray said, shaking his head. “The last thing I want is you guys storming in there and suddenly your names are all over the newspapers. Secret superhero identities protect you just as much as it protects everybody you love - and the last thing I want to be doing is saving your guys ass since you got stubborn.”  
  
“Well, you’re right. We don’t have superhero identities.” Michael said, a glint in his eyes. “But we can change that.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh Vav, I thought you would’ve given in by now.”  
  
“Yeah, over my dead body.” Gavin replied, spitting blood onto the concrete beside him. “You think it’s going to take a bit of stabbing and electrocution to get me to talk? Think again, you minge.”  
  
“Pity.” Mark replied, pacing in front of him with his bow swinging from one hand, a glove in the other. “I thought you’d be smarter than that. We’re two gentlemen, see? I’m sure a man like you knows how to chit chat. And excuse the crass language” he added, with a smirk that said he didn’t care about his language whatsoever “but I’m sure a  _hero_ like you knows when he’s quite frankly buggered.”  
  
“Sod off.” Gavin growled, yelling as Mark backhanded him with one of his leather gloves.  
  
“What did I say about not speaking unless you’re spoken to?” Mark said, an angry glower to his eyes before he let it settle. “No matter. I cocked up!” He shrugged, a too-wide smile on his face that just spelt trouble. “I thought you were a man of reason, but I was mistaken. A right shame if you ask me, I was thinking somebody like you could easily be my right hand man with a little work-”  
  
“What in the bloody hell made you think I’d be  _your_ right hand man?” Gavin said, barking out a laugh as he struggled limply against the shackles holding him to the wall. Or at least, he was  _pretty_ sure it was the wall - the shackles were bolted to a large metal plate and it gave the impression that whatever he was attached to could move. “I already have one - and his name is X-Ray. Heard of him, you bloody cock?”  
  
“And yet he’s not here yet. Fascinating.” The other man replied, pulling on his glove again as he pulled the remote out of his pocket and fuck, Gavin knew what that controlled but he couldn’t hold his tongue, not around somebody as infuriating as Nutt. “Ever fancied that he might not be coming, Vav? That your sweet little X-Ray is out there enjoying his life because he doesn’t have to deal with the train wreck that’s you anymore?”  
  
“He  _is_ coming _-_ ” He was cut off as he started to scream, his body bowing off the wall as electricity ran through his system and fucking hell, he had known it was coming. He had  _known._  But you can prepare for the sting of a blade or the blunt ache of a punch; you can’t prepare for the sort of pain that attacks every nerve in your body, that frays them to a point where you can’t focus on anything except the pain. There’s no escape from that sort of pain and when the electricity cut out Gavin flopped like a puppet cut from its strings, head lulling.  
  
“I will not be talked to like that.” Nutt said, and for the first time in a long while Gavin could see the sheer rage behind his eyes, the rage that made him a rival and a villain unmatched. Gavin was not a religious man, far from it, but he saw the look in Nutt’s eyes and in that moment he was praying to God with the strength he had left the Ray was coming, and soon. He was a hero; he was supposed to be doing the saving, not needing to be saved and tied to the wall with his wrists being rubbed raw and his nerves on end his resolve was fading.  _He_ was fading.  
  
“I’ll be back in a few hours, Vav.” Mark said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Maybe in the meantime you will reconsider my offer. Honestly my friend, I’m doing you a favour. You’re better off without that tosser anyway. And if he tries to get in here and ‘save’ you? Well, he’s going to find he’s more than met his match.” And with that, Mark spun on his feet, walking out of the cage. The barred metal door clanged shut behind him, further drilling into Gavin’s mind he was no better than a medieval prisoner right now. Hopefully he wouldn’t meet the same fate as one.  
  
“Please come soon, Ray.”  
  
-x-  
  
“ _Alright!”_ Geoff said. “Let’s roll call this bitch and get this show on the road.”  
  
“X-Ray, reporting for duty.” The Puerto Rican said, saluting the older man. He leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs with his black cape hanging over the back of the seat.   
  
“Mad King’s here.” Ryan said, sitting with his legs crossed. “Still have no idea why I’m wearing a kilt, but I’ll go with it.”  
  
“The only suits that superheroes wear are spandex.” Ray replied matter-of-factly. “You’re not wearing a formal suit to kick ass and I’m barely letting you get away with that suit jacket. Hell, you look more like a super villain than a superhero - how high do you want to wear those socks?”  
  
“Ladies, please.” Geoff said, rolling his eyes and laughing. “You can talk about how sexy Ryan looks in his thigh highs later, lets carry on and actually get back on track.”  
  
“Mogar’s here, bitches.” Michael said, leaning forward onto his arms. He was the only one not in fight attire, instead donning a hoodie and jeans - then again, he was also the only one that was going to become three times his size soon enough.  
  
“Red Beard’s here as well.” Jack said, sitting forward as well. His pirate jacket’s sleeves had been ripped off to leave the frayed edges and he picked at them absent mindedly. The reasoning had been sound enough - a man with super strength really shouldn’t be wearing constricting long sleeves - but it took the outfit from strange to stranger. For a superhero though? Strange was perfect, and considering Jack looked like Blackbeard met Popeye it was even better.  
  
“And Fireball’s here. Obviously.” Goff finished, blowing a ring of smoke as if to prove his point. His outfit was all black, a fireball logo emblazoned on the front and a cape of a fiery orange situated on his shoulders. A glass of whisky sat next to him; he took a swallow of it before turning back to the wall, where a map and floor plan was pinned up since the dining table was out of order for obvious reasons. “So Gavin’s been kidnapped. Mark Nutt’s taken him who knows where and we’re all screwed - except we aren’t.” There was a mad, yet glorious glint in his eyes. “Ryan here did some snooping with all his tech mojo - turns out, this mansion just outside of town was brought not too long ago by a mister Marcus Nutt.  _And_  looking at some surveillance footage there was a small volley of cars heading off that way at about two in the morning a couple of days ago.”  
  
“ _That_  and also the guy faxed the police the address yesterday morning, along with a request for a million dollars and the key to the city.” Ray scoffed. “Seriously, did this guy just watch a bunch of Saturday morning cartoons? I mean, who even faxes anymore?”  
  
“So we’ve got our location.” Geoff said. “And since the place was sold through a real estate agent, we have a floor plan.” He tapped at the second piece of paper, where indeed the real estate’s supplied floor plans were hung up.  
  
“That place is fancy as fuck!” Michael said. “Look, it even has a fucking fountain and a stairwell  in. The place has an  _entry hall_.”  
  
“It’s a shame we have to blow it up.” Geoff said, smiling for a moment before turning back to the board. “My guess is that Gavin’s going to be held in one of these basement rooms, definitely under some sort of lock and key. Jack, you should head down there, Michael, you too. Best case scenario you two get in and out and Nutt’s none the wiser that Gavin’s even gone.” The two men nodded their approval, Geoff turning to Ray next.  
  
“You’re the front of this operation for obvious reasons Ray. Hopefully Mark will think you’re the only one there the whole time, until the end. If we’re feeling showy, maybe we’ll all come together to take him down.” He grinned, the ends of his moustache twitching. “Basically, before Jack and Michael get downstairs you need to draw as much attention as possible. Kick, scream, knock out a few guys. I don’t care, but you need to be drawing as much attention as possible. I’ll shadow you and keep your back.”

  
‘’And me?” Ryan asked.   
  
“You’ll be bringing up the back.” Geoff replied. “Me and Michael will clear out the main hall and hopefully make it to Nutt, who I’m  _pretty_ sure will be upstairs somewhere - you’ll stay in that main entryway and make sure any stragglers don’t get the jump on me and Michael.” Ryan saluted in reply, Geoff returning to face the group at whole.  
  
“So here’s the plan. Michael and Jack, you’re going to creep out the back of the property, and you’re gonna wait there. Might be half a minute, might be half an hour. I don’t know, depends how stupid Nutt’s being. Ryan, you’ll follow Jack and Michael as well but stop about here” he tapped his finger on some of the garden near the front of the house “that way once me and Michael have cleared the front yard you can move in behind us.”  
  
“Got it.”  
  
“Ray, once they’re in position, you’re going to drive in and hope out. Seriously, just go fucking nuts. I’ll set off a few explosions, set some shit on fire and we’ll try and draw as many people as we can outside. Nutt being a sniper will probably want to keep some distance between us and him but he’ll probably want to lure us inside at some point so we’re really in his domain or some weird as dicks thing like that. Besides that, we’ll have to play it by ear.  _So._ ” Geoff turned to the four of them. “Who’s ready to save some British ass?”  
  
-x-

Ray was pretty sure he’d never been in such a tense car ride in his life.

It was one thing to sit around and discuss the heist like it was some sort of game, all smiles and bad jokes but driving out now it was a completely different story. The reality of what they were about to do had sunk onto their shoulders like lead weights and there wasn’t any way to remove it - trying to would be an insult to Gavin, and the last thing that was on the list of things to do tonight was that. The moon had just risen, part way through its waning period as Michael was quick to point out. The statement was met with various nods and murmurs of interest, minimal at most though. People attention was understandably elsewhere.  
  
Ryan seemed to be faring the worst out of all of them; despite only needing to bring up the rear the haunted look in his eyes hadn’t quite faded. Ray could kind of understand why; it was one thing to be a parkour master and shoot lasers from your eyes, quite another to literally control the darkness inside you and other people. As it stood, the older man said that he didn’t like drawing on others - it apparently left a ‘bad taste in his mouth’. Ray wasn’t quite sure how literal that was, but either way it was hard to ignore when Ryan was sitting next to him and staring out the window as if the countryside held the answers to everything. Ray reached over and took his hand, flashed the blond a smile when he looked in shock. It was worth it to see the man’s shoulders relax, even if only for a moment.  
  
Michael was busy drumming a pattern onto the other backseat car door, while Jack and Geoff sat together up the front, their silence punctuated occasionally by quiet, meaningless words of comfort and small talk. The street lamps had long since disappeared from the streets they travelled, leaving the car in blackness besides the dim glow of the dashboard and the light from the night outside. It was a night tense and braced for action - it was a night not of peace, but of impact, of meaning. And as the group of them drew up on the mansion, parked the car and clicked off the engine Ray could only hope that whatever came of tonight, it would be good. After all, under the spandex and fur and costumes, they were his boyfriends; and he was going to keep his boys safe if it was the last thing he ever did.

  
“Michael, Jack, Ryan, you ready?” Geoff asked, leaning over the back of the seat to look at them.  
  
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Ryan said, undoing his seat belt.  
  
“Fuck yes.” Michael replied, with a lot more enthusiasm as he all but tumbled out of the car, followed by Jack who was laughing. Despite the very audible sound of snapping bones and the various noises Michael made while transforming the redhead had been quick to assure them he didn’t feel any pain in the process - it still made Ray’s head whip around the first time he heard it tonight though.

“You’re not going to have any boxers left if you keep on changing with them on.” Jack said, looking over at Michael as he shook out his newly grown fur.   
  
“Forgive me for not wanting to get naked outside the bad guy’s house.” Michael replied, rolling his eyes as he scratched absentmindedly at the ground with his large bear talons. “I mean, as much fun as it would be to moon him I might save that for when I’m not  fucking  butt naked in his front yard.”  
  
“You guys better get going.” Ray said, butting in before the banter could escalate any further. As much as he liked the witty back and forth now was not the time for it; especially when there was only five of them right now. The men in front of him nodded, and it wasn’t long before they disappeared into the thickets of the garden surrounding the house, leaving Geoff and Ray with a few precious minutes to themselves. They got out of the car to swap seats - Ray needed to drive them in - but Geoff stopped him at the bonnet.  
  
“Ray, you remember how we all got together?” Geoff said, quietly after a moment.  
  
“Yeah.” Ray replied. “How could I forget?” The six of them had been over at Geoff house again, and between pizza, Halo and too many shots the sexual tension in the air had become unbearable. The worst bit too was that it wasn’t the first time either - Ray had caught himself over those last few weeks making sly innuendos with Michael, shamelessly oggling Ryan, wondering what it would be like to trace Geoff’s tattoos with his tongue or kiss Jack awake in the mornings. But he didn’t act on it - he hadn’t acted on the feelings since they had appeared and he had promptly shoved them down because it didn’t matter how game he knew his boyfriend Gavin would be, these were his best friends and they were also all in relationships too. It was all a big cluster fuck that he really didn’t have time for. Hell, he knew he wouldn’t have acted on them either if Michael hadn’t stood up, proclaimed his ‘big fucking crushes’ on all of them before pulling Jack in for a shamelessly indulgent kiss. The rest of the night had resulted in all of their own declarations and more kissing. Lots of kissing. And when they had fallen into the life they lead now? Well, Ray knew he didn’t want to leave.  
  
“I’m… Really glad that happened, you know?” Geoff continued, leaning against the bonnet. “Michael was able to say what we were all thinking, all wanted to say and fuck, my life has been so much better knowing I’m waking up to you dicks beside me. Or on top of me.” He smirked. “You know Gavin sometimes barely qualifies as ‘beside’ me when we sleep.” Ray laughed, nodding and speaking his own agreement. The Brit had an uncanny ability when asleep to worm out of any hug and spread across the other five like a large, bony cat. It was simultaneously adorable and ridiculous - thankfully though, not uncomfortable.  
  
“But that’s the thing.” Geoff continued. “Michael said what we couldn’t then, and that’s kind of what you’ve done as well. These powers we all have are scary shit.” He said. “I’ve been pissing myself all day because I’ve had to do this tonight, fuck, you know how scared I was just to  _tell you?_ But you’ve managed to make a name for yourself with these powers you have and honestly I really admire it, you know? It takes a fuck load of confidence to do that and whatever happens tonight, I want you to know that.”  
  
“I… Thanks.” Ray said, honestly taken aback by Geoff’s words. How was he even supposed to react to that? But then Geoff was leaning in and kissing him sweetly and Ray couldn’t help but melt into the kiss, melt into the honeyed tale that Geoff was spinning and for a single moment just purely believe in what he was saying.  
  
“No, thank  _you._ ” Geoff replied, smiling, before hopping in the back seat, Ray taking the driver’s seat. “Now, do you think we’ve given those assholes enough time to get into position?”  
  
“Probably.” Geoff grinned widely at that.  
  
“Then let’s crash this joint.”  
  
The wheels screeched loudly as Ray slammed on the acceleration, wheeling into the long driveway as he yelled out the window with Geoff laughing and clutching onto his seat. Ahead of them the house was lit up like a Christmas tree; already Ray could see guards rushing out, flailing their bows about like headless chickens.

  
“ _What’s up!”_ Ray yelled, screeching to a halt a few metres out from the fountain as a few guards flung themselves towards cover. Not even bothering to open the door Ray swung out the open window, landing easily on the thick rim of the fountain as the first arrows started to fly. He could hear the back door open, Geoff no doubt army rolling out and still keeping out of sight.   
  
“You think a few arrows are going to stop me?” Ray yelled, cartwheeling to one side as a few more pierced the air where he’d just been standing. “I thought you guys would’ve figured out by now - you can’t pin me down. Especially when I have fire on my side.” And bless the bastard, that was when Geoff chose to throw out some fireballs at the gardens to the sides of the house, the dry foliage catching easily as it went up in a roaring flame. Ray delighted in the looks of shock and horror on the various goons faces, whispers of  _what the fuck I thought he couldn’t do that_ going through the group. A sizable amount had gathered now, about twenty men and woman. A challenge, for sure, but not an unmanageable one.   
  
“Suck on this!” Ray yelled, starting to shoot lasers at the group. They scattered like ants; some tried to fire back but the Puerto Rican, ever light on his feet, was quick to flip or sidestep out of the way. Slowly but surely the numbers were dropping, very much helped by the fireballs that were being tossed from behind the car. It felt… Suspiciously easy.  
  
“Hey, Geo-Fireball?” Ray asked, quickly correcting himself as his glance flickering behind him.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Does it feel like there should be  _way_ more people or is it just me-”  
  
“Oh X-Ray! So you’ve arrived!”   
  
And lo and behold, Nutt was walking out onto the second floor balcony, bow slung over his back and a wicked gleam in his eyes behind his protective glasses. “Finally decided to come save your buddy’s lonely ass? Or are you just fulfilling your duty as a hero? We all know that he was just a liability.”  
  
“Let him go, and maybe I won’t just blaze this house.” Ray replied, his voice taking on a serious edge.  
  
“As if. What do you take me for, a wanker?”  
  
“A  _what_?”  
  
“A wanker! A tosser! A dodgy bugger?” Nutt yelled down, before scoffing and pulling the bow off his arm. “Honestly, I thought you Americans would have a bit more class than this. Do I have to decode  _everything_  I say?”  
  
“You’re just as bad as Vav with your weird ass words.” Ray said, lowering into a fighting stance. “Maybe check a dictionary before you open your mouth and you might get somewhere.”  
  
“Or, I could just bring out the big guns, and save talking with any  _commoners_  at all.” Nutt replied, making a grand gesture to the doors opening below him and for a moment Ray was wondering why there was such a fuss being made about doors opening _._ But then they were opened all the way and suddenly he understood why there were so few people coming out to greet him.  
  
The contraption had to be at least five metres wide, made of thick wood and metal and it filled the entire hallway, dwarfing the men that were working on it. Several men stood behind it, loading thick bolts into specially placed grooves as another few drew the bow string back tilting the machine just so for a critical hit. Ray gulped.  
  
“Say hello to my darling Scorpion.” Nutt said, leaning over the edge of the railing with the most cocky smile spreading across his face. “She’s three tons of solid killing power, specially engineered with sheer force behind her but not sacrificing mobility. Reload time is approximately ten seconds, point blank is half a kilometre and she can pierce three men before even thinking of slowing down. Surrender now and  _maybe_ I’ll spare your life.”  
  
“As if.” Ray said, although the confidence was faltering from his voice, further doing so as people started to leap out of the window, armed with wicked looking guns and fuck Nutt had really decided to pull out all the stops now.  
  
“Very well.” Mark said, loading his bow. “I look forward to seeing your demise.   
  
“ _Geoff **run** -”  
  
“- **Fire!**_ ”  
  
The two men barely had time to dive out of the way as the first barrage of bolts flew out of the scorpion, piercing the car. And in there, there was a split second of silence. Of Geoff shoving Ray behind him, arms outstretched in front of him as sweat began to bead on his brow, of the goons double taking because where in the  _fuck_ did that second guy come from?  
  
Then the car exploded.  
  
Ray yelled at the automobile went up in flame, would’ve thrown himself back had Geoff not parted the heat wave around them, teeth gritted and eyes glowing from the brightness of the wreckage.  
  
“ _Keep. Moving.”_ Geoff gritted out.  
  
“But-”  
  
“Ray, that thing isn’t going to stop firing just because he got one car.” Geoff replied, finally stepping back as the flame diminished. “We need to keep moving. He can’t hit a moving target.”  
  
“But those guns can.” Ray said, making a sound of terror when as if on cue they started firing, the two of them yelling and diving for cover behind the concrete of the fountain. The bullet fire didn’t cease at all - if anything it increased, as if they could drill through the concrete to where the two men lay pressed flat against it. Another shot of bolts soared over their heads; they could hear the concrete head of one of the cherubs that had previously been spitting water thud into the bottom of the fountain, knocked clean off by the shot.  
  
“Fuck, there’s too many of them!” Ray cursed, hearing the bullets soaring ahead and not daring to turn around to look, even to use his X-Ray vision. “I don’t know if we can move unless we want to get shot dead.” An arrow landed next to his feet, the feathers in the end coloured red blue and white and his heart dropped because he knew who had shot that arrow. Another  _twhack_  of the scorpion going off and the sound of concrete breaking, followed by gushing water - Ray was pretty sure the only reason the two of them were alive right now was because they were on the other side of two thick panels of concrete and one of them had just been broken through now. Fuck, they were so screwed, fuck fuck fuckfuckfuck-  
And then suddenly it all stopped.  
  
For a moment Ray was wondering if that was some adrenaline thing because he’d been shot straight through the heart and he hadn’t quite realized yet. But a quick check over confirmed that yes, he didn’t have any extra holes and Geoff was the same. They looked at each other.  
  
“Did you do anything?”  
  
“No, did you?”  
  
“No.”  
  
Slowly they peered up - only to find the front yard completely deserted and the double doors just barely open. Considering not two seconds ago there were at least five dozen people running about, the sudden change was equal parts relieving and more than a little disturbing.  
  
“Should we move in?”  
  
“I can’t see why not?” Geoff replied, checking over the rim of the destroyed fountain one more time before pulling Ray up with him. The two of them were half expecting another arrow to fly at their head but even Nutt had seemed to have vacated the balcony. What the hell had happened? Their confusion was further fuelled as a large thud echoed around them, something pushing the door just a little bit further open. The two heroes quickly vaulted over the fountain, taking the steps two at a time to get to the door, where a piece of bent wood was holding it ajar and it looked suspiciously from the scorpion that had only just been shooting at them. A twisted piece of metal lay on top of it - if the battered door was any indication that was what certainly caused the sound they just heard. The sight that greeted them, however, neither of them could have prepared for.  
  
The scorpion was a wreck, torn apart piece by piece with the wreckage flung all around the room. Many of the goons had been trapped under pieces of the former weapon or in some places even collapsed wall; quite a few were slumped over like dolls and there were more than a few suspicious smears of red on the ground. But in the middle of it all, was Ryan, their sweet and precious Ryan and there was something raw and dangerous about him right now as he used a pulse of dark energy to send another minion flying back into the wall. The darkness wasn’t just in his hands now too; it had spread up his arms and blackened the skin, his hands warped into nasty looking talons. The skin around his eyes had also blacked, and they gleamed with power; but when they settled on the two forms in the doorway the malice melted away instantly.  
  
“Nutt’s upstairs.” He said curtly. “I’ll hold down here.”  
  
“ _Yeah okay.”_ Ray said, unable to keep the shock out of his voice. Ryan looked positively demonic, and Ray wasn’t quite sure if that was a compliment so he held his tongue. “So this is what happens if you draw on other people?” Ryan laughed at that - Ray was pretty sure he saw a glint of fangs in there.  
  
“You look scary as dicks dude.” Geoff agreed.  
  
“Thanks.” Ryan replied. ”Turns out when I want to do this it comes with some… Added benefits. but you’ve got places to be.” The joking tone in his voice disappeared as quickly as it appeared. “Nutt’s gone to the library, down the hall to the left. I think he’s going to try and do something to Vav. You guys need to go quickly.” Ray nodded sharply at that, turning to leave.  
  
“We’re talking about all this later though, you know that?” Geoff added.  
  
“Oh,” Ryan said. “I expect it.”

The two made their way quickly up the stairs after that, the fact that they were finally honing in on Nutt - and Gavin along with him - only made their pace even more urgent. Ducking around the corner, the two stormed into the library.

In hindsight the room was hardly a library - the only books in the room were the ones that lined the outside walls. The doors in front of them lead out to the balcony that Nutt was standing on just before - and between them and the door was the man himself. He had lost his bucket hat, exposing scruffy brown hair and he generally just looked a bit panicked. The most that Ray had been met with before was a cocky grin and a smart ass quip, but now Mark didn’t even hesitate to arm his bow, aiming it directly at Ray. The Puerto Rican gulped as he looked down the shaft and saw the red light on the head blinking - that thing was going to explode as soon as it hit him. If it hit him.

"Precious," Nutt said, trying to keep the composure to his voice. "It’s only been a day and you’ve already got some super buddies. Didn’t take you long to replace that buffoon Vav, did it?"

"We’re not here to replace anybody." Geoff said; anger was making his moustache smoke at the ends. Ray was reminded of tales he’d read when he was little of pirates that would light fuses in their beards to scare their opponents, and looking at Geoff now he could see why because the man looked terrifying. "We’re here to get Vav and you’re in our way. Let. Him. Go." That only made Nutt laugh, made him near double over with the manic gasps as he stepped back a bit to a lever in the floor. He kicked it over with his foot; the ground shuddered as a hole opened up in the floor.

"You know my demands, gentlemen," he said, and his composure was returning and that was not a good sign. A metal tube was raising out of the ground -the two of them could see the top of a too familiar messy haircut. "And if you can’t present it to me now? Well, you can watch me shock your precious partner to death."

-x-

"Michael, quick, this way!"

It turned out trying to herd a bear through a mansion, deserted as it might be, was no easy task. With Michael being far too big to just sneak past they had to be a lot more methodical with their advances. There were still several guards on guard and it was taking every effort they could take to not make a sound as they knocked out each one, progressing through the house towards the stairwell down to the basement.

"I’m coming, I’m coming." Michael growled in reply, trotting along behind Jack.

"Wow, Michael." Jack said, looking back with a smile cracking on his face. "No need to get grizzly."

"Wow." Michael said, letting out a sigh. "Fucking wow, I think that’s a new low for you Jack."

"Hey, I thought it was pretty funny." Jack protested. "At least give me that."

"You laugh at your own jokes. How fucking original." Michael said, shaking his head and laughing bitterly. "I’m not going to hear the end of the bear jokes, am I?"

"You haven’t even told Gavin yet." Jack pointed out, further exasperating Michael.

"He’s going to have a field day-"

“ ** _BEAR!_** ”

The two of them twisted around with wide eyes as they realized they’d let their guard down just a bit too much, two guns now firmly trained on them with wide eyed goons behind them. Their faces were the epitome of ‘this was definitely not what I signed up for’ but there was no ignoring the way their guns snapped up and Jack was taken by surprise, eyes wide as he was rooted to the spot. For all intents and purposes he became a sitting duck - he should have been shot between the eyes. But Michael didn’t even flinch, just barred led down the stairs and it was hard to shoot a dead target when there was a literal  _bear_ charging straight at them. Only one of them managed to fire at all before Michael disarmed them for good, and even then it was only to lodge in the drywall as Michael’s claws, paws and pure muscle slammed the first man into the wall with a crack, the second one not far behind and Jack only managed to jog down as he finished them off. The bear paused for a second, looking at the blood that was beginning to pool on the ground before looking back up.  
  
“Sorry.” Michael said, trying to wipe his paw clean of the blood “I know you don’t like gory stuff, but it was the only way-”  
  
“-Its fine.” Jack said, scratching the nape of Michael’s neck and  _wow_ that felt good, Michael needed to do this more often and the younger man (or bear, in this case) leaned into the touch with a hum that straddled the line between man and beast. “It’s not that bad. Let’s just keep moving, yeah?”  
  
The two of them did so, padding through the basement hall quietly. It seemed however that those were the last guards left, all the rest being drawn to whatever commotion was going on upstairs. They could hear the scraping of metal and yells - whatever was happening it sounded like it was in their favour. Or at least, that was the hope they kept close to their heart as they came to the end of the hall.  
  
“This must be the room.”  
  
The door that greeted them, unlike the others that they had seen, was not the luxurious dark wood that they had seen throughout the rest of the house. Instead it was a light, medical grade metal, a jarring contrast in both style and age - and also very thick, as Michael concluded by pawing at it.  
  
“There’s no way I’m getting through this.” He said, scratching at the metal and scowling as the metal barely scratched. “And I’d bet my leftovers that the card reader’s alarmed.”  
  
“Well, I doubt there’s going to be a window we can climb through.” Jack said, eyeing the door thoughtfully. “So it’s either we go through here, or Gavin might need to wait a little bit longer.”  
  
“Well, can you do anything?” Michael said, giving him a look. Jack just grinned.  
  
“I thought you’d never asked.”  
  
In retrospect, Michael would continue to wonder just how Jack had managed to punch a clean hole through the door like it was made of butter and not only played it cool but do it three more times in succession before literally forcing the opening wide with his bare hands. By god, this was the man who he knew for having the softest touch, the lightest hands and yet he could tear through stuff even a  _bear_  couldn’t.  
  
“What the actual fuck.”  
  
“Felt good man.” Jack said, stepping through and neatly tearing the rest of the door away, allowing Michael inside. The younger man was about to continue the banter, but suddenly he seemed to realize exactly where he was - and who, battered and bloody, was chained up to the wall opposite them.  
  
“ _Gavin!”_ Michael yelled, face lighting up. “My boi!” Concern was quick to etch onto his face though as the Brit didn’t reply, only continued to lay slumped with the shackles pulling his arms back in a way that he knew couldn’t be comfortable. “We have to get him out of there.” He said, turning to Jack. “You think we can get to him?”  
  
“Not without setting off some sort of trap. Why do you think Gavin hasn’t gotten himself out yet?” Jack said, stalking forward before pausing for a moment, his suspicions being confirmed. “Listen. This whole outer cage is wired up. We touch it and we get electrocuted – that’s probably what he’s been doing to Gavin.” He added the last note sadly - for the first time he noticed the shackles had rubbed through his suit around his wrists and ankles and then some with the skin looked blistered and rubbed raw. But Michael just growled, clapping his paw together.  
  
“It might be too much for a human.” He said. “But let’s see if it’s too much for a bear.” And with that, he stalked forward to the bars and god Jack wasn’t sure if it was determination or stupidity egging Michael along right now but he could help but admire the man. Couldn’t help but  _love_ him, even if he’d never said those words out loud _._ Jack could hear the moment that Michael’s paws hit the bar, could hear the grunt of pain that he pushed through and not two seconds later the bars buckled and broke beneath him, the younger man falling forward along with the bars. What was better was that the commotion seemed to have gotten forward to Gavin, who was stirring where he hung.   
  
“Boi! You’re alive! Thank fuck for that, I thought you’d gone and fucking died on me because you were being your inconsiderate self.” Michael said, trotting up to the man with a big grin on his face. Or at least, the biggest grin a bar face could handle - and if the way that Gavin glanced at him once and then promptly squeezed his eyes shut again was any indication the Brit didn’t believe for a second what his eyes were telling him.  
  
“Let me handle this.” Jack said, pushing Michael to one side. “Gavin, love? It’s me, Jack. We’re coming to get you out of here.” This time Gavin seemed to react more positively, holding Jack’s gaze as he flashed the man a weak smile.  
  
“About bloody time you got here, my shoulders are killing me.” Gavin joked, his eyes roaming over Jack for a second. “Why are you wearing such bloody weird clothes? Also please don’t tell me Michael actually is a sodding bear.” Jack could only laugh at that.  
  
“You’ve got a lot to catch up on” He said simply “but long story short you and Ray aren’t the only one with super powers. Also yes, Michael is a bear.” He got down on one knee, snapping apart the ankle shackles with only a moment’s struggle before doing the same to his wrist shackles. He caught the lanky lad as he fell, felt a stab of horror at just how batted the man was as Gavin sunk into the impromptu embrace.  
  
“God, I love you guys.” Gavin said, sighing the words with a smile on his lips and both Michael and Jack couldn’t help but double take because did he really just say that? The words had always been assumed between the six of them, all of them hoping one of the others would just verbalise it first. Gavin hadn’t been the first choice by far - but as soon as the words fell from his lips all of them knew it to be true.  
  
“Love you too.” Michael and Jack repeated, flashing each other a smile. Jack carefully loaded Gavin onto Michael’s back - he could see Gavin grip loosely at the fur under his fingers.  
  
“Take him out to the car.” Jack said. “That’s probably the safest place. I’ll go up and help handle Nutt.” Michael looked like he was about to argue, but decided against it. At that moment though, the sound of machinery started, a loud whirring sound as the piece of wall and the floor below where Gavin had just been standing started to whirl quickly up.  
  
“I’ll take this up.” Jack said, slipping on. “You go. Stay safe.”  
  
“Will do.”  
  
“Don’t do anything stupid, yeah?”  
  
He didn’t get a reply to that.  
  
-x-  
  
"You know my demands, gentlemen," Mark said, his composure returning as he looked at the two superheroes. A metal tube was rising out of the ground -the two of them could see the top of a too familiar messy haircut. "And if you can’t present it to me now? Well, you can watch me shock your precious partner to death." But the end of his sentence faltered as he realized that Ray and Geoff were smiling. They shouldn’t be  _smiling.  
  
_ “Hey there, you fucker.”  
  
And Jack was standing there, in all his pirate like, bearded glory. The smile on his face was only real enough to show Nutt just how fucked he was as he stepped off the metal plate daintily - and if the way the British man was squirming in place, it was working. His best leverage in the situation was gone, and now he was essentially just a guy in stupid clothes with a bow and arrow.  
  
“Heard you took my friend.” He continued, further advancing on him. Nutt raised his bow and the shake in the weapon was visible even where Geoff and Ray stood - it looked like he was about to yell out a warning but Jack just leaned over, and with a light  _snap_ broke the bow in half. The explosive arrow clattered to the floor, disarmed and Nutt scrambled for it. Only, when he swiped at it, his hand passed through it entirely, the arrow disappearing in a haze of black smoke.  
  
“I wouldn’t suggest doing that, if I was you.”  
  
And Ryan appeared, and his words were smooth chocolate, the finest caramel but his smile was absolutely demonic, and he backed Nutt into the centre of the room once more. “You fucked with one of the most important people in my life. I don’t like that.” He growled. “You’re so bad it leaves a bad taste in my mouth… At least getting rid of you will stop that.”  
  
As if on cue then, the library door burst open one more time, Michael galloping in with one injured, but very much alive Gavin riding on his back. And sure, maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea, with Gavin barely able to hold himself up but the look on Nutt’s face more than made up for that.  
  
“So the car’s apparently an exploded shit heap.” Michael said “so, I thought I’d bring along a friend. You guys might’ve heard of him.” The grins that greeted him said all that he needed to know. But then with energy nobody even knew he still had after all he’d been through Gavin slid off Michael’s back, and despite the blood, despite the torture he still found the energy within him to walk over, to grin wildly as he came face to face with Nutt. With a wide grin on his face, he pushed the man to the ground.  
  
“Game over, luv.”  
  
-x-  
  
Whoever said that being a superhero was a lonely, gritty adventure had obviously never gone out fighting crime with Gavin.  
  
The moon was high in the sky, full and pale and casting silvery light onto the streets of the city and not for the first time Ray was reminded of just how wonderful it was to be a superhero on the streets at midnight. It was too late for civilians to be running about but the filth of the night had yet to drag themselves out of the sewers and so the streets remained void of anybody, and each footstep he and Gavin took seemed to ring throughout the desolate city.   
  
Nutt had surrendered pretty quickly after Gavin had shoved him to the floor, because apparently despite being a madman the man knew when he was well and truly beat. He had been shipped off as soon as police had arrived on the scene, and by the sounds of what the head police officer was saying he wasn’t going to be coming out for a long time. Ray would always take those words with a pinch of salt though - if super villains were known for anything it was their uncanny ability to escape prison and considering Flynt had already managed to escape just in the past week he knew they would have their work cut out for them sooner or later. But no matter if it was in a day, a month or a year he knew he would be there. There was no question about it - he had fallen in love with this city and its people from the word go, and if saving them meant fighting Nutt again Ray would do it in a heartbeat.  
  
“You okay there X-ray?” Gavin asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
“Definitely.” Ray replied, flashing him a smile. “Why would I be worried?”  
  
“Because you’re you?”  
  
“Nah, I leave all the worrying to Geoff and Jack.” Ray said. “My life is solely dedicated to blazing it up and smoking dat ‘erb now.” Gavin just laughed at that, falling easily into step with him.  
  
Gavin had recovered surprisingly well - it had been a god damn miracle that through all the electrocution his heart hadn’t given up but apparently his body was as stubborn as his brain when it came to stupid shit like surviving just a little bit longer. The fact all his boyfriends also had superpowers, while shocking, the Brit had also taken in stride as well - and exactly as Jack had predicted, Gavin had more than eagerly jumped on the bear puns and Michael now wanted to sock him on a regular basis. (In his defence, it was bloody un _bear_ able to let the moment escape him.)  
  
It had actually taken them all a while to get used to the fact they all had powers, as well as the fact they could indulge in actually  _using_ them without fear. Jack had finally gotten around to doing some of the gardening he had meant to do earlier, now able to shuffle the larger trees around without needed to come up for excuses why he hadn’t needed to hire a fucking crane for the day. Michael had happily helped him out too - while he still spent most of his time as a human he did enjoy the odd scratch and the extra muscle had come in handy more than a few times since. Geoff’s barbeques had gotten ten times better, since apparently being able to control flames with one’s mind resulted in a steak unrivaled by anything ever. Ryan actually didn’t change much of his usual routine at all, although he slept a lot better at night and his headaches were but a distant memory. Being able to use the powers more freely and without guilt apparently made them far more pleasant to use too -and if one of them found themselves pinned up against the wall, the blond’s eyes flashing violet as he kissed them hard and rough? Merely a bonus.  
  
What had arguably changed the most in Ray’s eyes though was their proclamations of love - because at the end of the day they all loved each other. Very much. So much it hurt and the idea that they could have died on that night and not have told each other was terrifying. From Ryan and Jack murmuring it gently under the covers in the early hours of the morning, to Geoff huffing that ‘you fuckers are lucky I love you’ as the Lads broke yet another plate, to Michael and Gavin grasping it between grinds while making out, to Ray himself whispering it as they fell asleep; they all made an effort to say it and it made his heart warm happily. Gavin though, argued differently.  
  
“Sup, fuckers. Going heroing without us?”  
  
Gavin argued that the biggest change was their superhero antics weren’t just two person affairs anymore. That after everybody had gotten home and been bandaged up, Gavin and Ray had been faced with their four boyfriends demanding to make their twosome a moresome because ‘we’re not going to just fucking sit here and watch this happen again who do you think we are?’. And thus the Hunters were born, the six of them joining forces and if X-Ray and Vav had been hard to beat the Hunters were unstoppable, working in a perfect sync that simply couldn’t exist. And yet, it did. And it was bloody  _perfect_.

“There isn’t any heroing to be done.” Gavin replied, pausing in stride to let the bear catch up with them. “It’s not even crime o-clock yet.”

  
“Yet.” Ray repeated, smiling. “Flynt’s apparently out and about. Don’t doubt he’s planning something big, probably explosive knowing him. No big deal though.”  
  
“We’ll be there.” Ryan said, suddenly phasing out of the shadows of a passing alleyway and if the Brit’s large squawk and flailing of arms was any indication, scaring the shit out of Gavin.  
  
“Bloody hell Ry, what did you have to go and do that for?” Gavin said, grasping his heart in an over dramatic fashion.  
  
“No reason.” The older man replied, grinning widely with a flash of teeth too sharp to be entirely human. “Well, except for getting you to make more of those ridiculous noises you make.” The group of them laughed, Gavin whining out a ‘ _but Ryaaaaaan’_ as they began to walk again, the four of them falling easily into step. Ray only smiled when he saw Geoff and Jack step out of the shadows as well, flanking Ryan and Michael and flashing him a smile. A light breeze whispered down the road, making their capes flap in the wind.

They were a team. They were going to get captured, they were going to get hurt, and in all probability they were going to die out here at the hands of a villain who didn’t deserve the honour of their blood on his hands. But flanked by the five most important people to him in the world, Ray couldn’t find it within him to care. He was going to keep his boys safe if it was the last thing he ever did – and when they were fighting by his side there was no better way to do that because they had his back. He trusted them with his life. He loved them.

"Bloody hell, Geoff, was that an explosion?"

"Sure as dicks Gav - Ray?" Five sets of eyes flickered to him, waiting in anticipation for his words. He grinned.

"Mogar! Fireball! Redbeard! Mad King! Vav!  _Lllllllllllllllllllets **go**_!”

He loved them, and they were going to kick some serious ass.


End file.
